Three up, three down from Week 2 of Giants spring training

The second week of Spring Training brought a new month, some bad news, and an interesting competition for the final roster spots for the San Francisco Giants.

The San Francisco Giants received some encouraging signs from many of their starting pitchers in the first week of spring training.

However, the second turn through the rotation is proving to be a tougher challenge.

In the case of Tyler Beede, the Giants may not see their promising young pitching prospect take the mound again anytime soon:

With the right-hander shelved for the foreseeable future, the attention now turns to the other starting pitchers on the 40-man roster, including Andrew Suarez, Dereck Rodriguez, and Conner Menez.

In addition to this, Tyler Anderson, Trevor Cahill, and Tyson Ross were brought in on minor league pacts. The competition for the fifth spot in the rotation appears to be wide open.

For the established rotation arms, this turn through the rotation was not as smooth as the first. Drew Smyly failed to make it out of the first inning in his most recent start and Johnny Cueto is sporting a 7.71 ERA.

However, this is hardly a cause for concern as pitchers are just trying to get live game experience while building up arm strength.

In terms of the position-player battles, the backup catcher role is still wide open. Both Rob Brantly and Tyler Heineman are competing for this role, but neither one is separating himself from the other.

The Giants outfielder contingent will include Hunter Pence, Alex Dickerson, and Mike Yastrzemski. Outside of that trio, the race is open, and only Joey Rickard and Joe McCarthy are performing well enough to make the Opening Day roster.

The path to make the team is more difficult for Rickard, as he was brought in on a minor league deal and would need to be added to the 40-man roster.

Lastly, the Giants announced their first round of cuts including some notable names:

In the second week of spring training, Andrew Suarez, Joey Rickard, and Zach Green have emerged as rising performers.